


No Peace or Freedom

by thegalrahobbitofplantetgalilfrey



Series: The Arms of Voltron [3]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, Fluff, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-15
Updated: 2017-05-15
Packaged: 2018-11-01 02:48:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 973
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10912767
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thegalrahobbitofplantetgalilfrey/pseuds/thegalrahobbitofplantetgalilfrey
Summary: Shiro goes missing. Need I say more?





	No Peace or Freedom

Keith yawned and stretched. He had to admit, Katie was a Godsend. He hadn’t been able to get this much sleep in _ages_ because of his all-night attempts to understand math. He rubbed the sleep from his eyes and headed for the mess hall, a sudden announcement stopping him.

_All students and staff, please report to assembly. Repeat, please head to assembly before breakfast._

Keith frowned at the speaker. What could possibly be going on? Had some high-muckity-muck come to visit? He made his way to the assembly hall.

 

 

“Hey, Leah, what’s going on?”

Leah had tears in her eyes, and she sniffled as she turned to Keith. “Oh, Keith, I’m so sorry!”

Keith felt his veins turn to ice. Where was Katie? He looked around, but didn’t see her anywhere. She’d gone to her mother’s for the weekend, but she should be back by now. “What’s going on?”

“Attention, students and staff.” Keith and Leah turned to the podium where Iverson had gotten up to speak. “As you know, two months ago, a spaceship was sent to Kerberos.” Shiro’s mission. What was happening? “Due to a pilot error, it crashed. The Kerberos mission is lost. All three are presumed dead.”

Keith stared numbly at Iverson. This wasn’t happening. This wasn’t happening. This _couldn’t_ be happening. Shiro wouldn’t’ve crashed. Shiro would never crash. This was all a nightmare, right? He would wake up, and everything would be fine. Right? But no, Leah’s squeeze of his hand was real, the wet of her tears. It was a lie. Or a mistake. Shiro couldn’t be… dead. Shiro couldn’t be dead, it was too nice of a day for that. Nothing bad ever happened on a sunny day. If Shiro was gone, it would be raining. The sky would be grey and dull, not vibrantly beautiful. Nature would be crying for Shiro.

“I’m sorry, Keith, I’m so sorry! It was on the news, I thought you knew!”

Keith didn’t move. Students were leaving, whispering as if this were just some interesting gossip, not a catastrophe. The assembly hall slowly drained, leaving only Keith and Leah, and then only Keith. Alone. Alone forever. Just like before Shiro.

 

 

“We’re here today to remember those brave souls lost when the spaceship crashed. They were good citizens, loyal to their county.”

Keith stared ahead, not listening to the man who was droning on and on. He pulled at the suit shirt’s collar. Stupid containing shirt. This was why he wore T-shirts and kept his jacket unzipped. Then, at long last, the ceremony was over. People were offering their condolences, but Keith didn’t hear any of them. He was looking for someone else.

He spotted her. Katie, her face strong, trying to keep it together for her mom, but Keith could tell that she was going to break soon.

“Hey, Mrs. Holt.” He bit his lip, trying to hold his own tears in.

Mrs. Holt pulled him into a hug. “Keith, I’m sorry. I feel selfish. I’m not the only one who’s lost someone.”

He froze, not sure what to do. She was crying again, and he wasn’t sure what he was supposed to say.

“You’re welcome to stay with us, anytime.”

Keith blinked back tears. Mrs. Holt had just lost her husband and son, but she was willing to help him. He didn’t… he couldn’t…

“I… I’m sorry, I have to…” he pulled himself away and ran down the hall.

 

 

“Keith?” Katie looked around the garden before poking her head under a hedge. There was Keith, safely hidden with his back to the wall, arms hugging his knees to his chest. She crawled under the bush, not caring about the dirt. Keith’s jacket and tie had come off somewhere, and the top button of his shirt was undone. His hair was a rat’s nest, and his eyes were red from crying.

“Hey,” he croaked.

“You look terrible.” No response. “Are you okay?”

“Are you?”

Katie was startled by his response. “I…” She looked to the ground, lip trembling. She couldn’t cry, not right now. “They… they were my family. I don’t…”

“Do you think it’s Shiro’s fault? The crash?”

“No. Shiro wouldn’t… he was a good pilot. But I don’t know what else could’ve… system failure, I suppose, or asteroids, or- or-”

“Katie.” She looked up at him, and he managed a small smile. “You’re being a computer.”

“I just… I’m scared, Keith,” she whispered. “I’m so, so, scared. I never thought that anything like this would happen, and now… I’ll never see them. Ever.”

Keith leaned his head back on the wall. “I don’t know what I’m going to do. I just… I feel like giving up. I loved flying, yeah, but I also just wanted to make Shiro proud. And now… where’s my drive? I’m useless. A loose cannon.”

Katie punched him in the arm.

“Ow!”

“Don’t give up, you idiot! Giving up is just about the worst thing you could do! Don’t just throw the towel in and say ‘that’s that!’”

“But…”

“You can’t give up on yourself; if you do, you didn’t deserve any of the affection Shiro gave you.” Her eyes filled with tears. “Don’t you see? If you leave… I don’t know what I’ll do. You’re my friend, Keith. One of my only friends.”

She crumpled and wrapped her arms around his waist, crying into his shirt, face buried in the fabric. She cried for Matt, she cried for her dad, she cried for Shiro, and she cried for Keith, because the stupid idiot wouldn’t let anyone help him when he was hurting. She felt Keith put one arm around her, and then… was it raining? She could feel drops, and looked up. Not rain. Keith. He was crying.

“I promise, Katie. I won’t give up if you don’t. We’ll figure this out. Together.”


End file.
